Regardless of the fact that the Sathya Sai Organization did everything
in its power,
even through the judiciary, to prevent producer Øjvind Kyrø of DR
(Denmark Radio),
from broadcasting a critical TV documentary on Sai Baba, it was aired
on
Wednesday, January 30, 2002 at 8:05 pm.

English translation of the
full spoken text by Robert Priddy, in consultation with Øjvind
Kyrø

35 00:05:50:11 00:05:55:18At Næstved, a group of Danes are preparing their journey
to Sai Baba’s
headquarters in India. Price D.Kr. 10,000. It is 14 days before
departure.

(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL, travel leader) You can joyfully
anticipate it. This is the first trip to India
for some of you. Others have been there two,
three, four, five or however many times I don’t know. This is my trip
number 50.”

Many followers regard Baba as God.

37 00:06:11:16 00:06:17:06
Because of
this program’s compromising statements about Baba, some of the followers
have regretted their partication -

38 00:06:17:09 00:06:22:22 Therefore some of the pictures are masked, but not all
of them.

39 00:06:23:00 00:06:27:18
(A BOY, EMIL) Will we meet Sai Baba? Will he
see us?

(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL) Oh, you can bet he will see you. He says
that you sit here and believe that I am not aware of your presence. But
he is – totally. If you only knew what I have experienced during my 49
visits down there! I have taken people with cancer to interviews, who
have become healthy. I have had people with me who have been blind, who
got back their sight on the spot.”

41 00:07:11:18
00:07:17:08 He claims that the guru cured him of cancer -

(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL)and I knew from that day onwards that I was completely healthy. I
always say that there is no one who travels down there who comes home as
the same person.

42 00:07:33:06 00:07:37:06
(Hostess)
How many are you? Twenty-six. It’ll be exciting.

43 00:07:37:09 00:07:39:15 Are you scared of flying?

(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL) Never, for the simple reason that Baba is with
us on our trip in any case. The reason for this
has to do with a twin-engined Boeing 737 in 1997
in South America. It lost power in one motor, and a Boeing 737 can fly
with one motor left. The problem was that the other motor also stopped,
and then it goes only one way, down. But one of the stewardesses was a
Sai Baba devotee and she called on him. Just after that they could see
Sai Baba in the clouds beyond the wing of the airplane. The first motor
then started, and then the other, and Baba was with the plane in the
clouds for 20 minutes. Everyone saw it. There is Baba in the clouds.
(shows picture)

44 00:08:51:22 00:08:54:24
We are in the South Indian town, Puttaparthi,

45 00:08:55:02 00:08:59:22 which is the headquarters of Sai Baba and his
movement.

46 00:09:06:17
00:09:12:24 Puttaparthi was once a little village. Now there are
always 10 to 20 thousand disciples here.

At special festivals, over a million followers gather in the town.
(Trans. Note
Completely wrong figure. Max. 300,000
capacity)

48 00:09:28:02 00:09:35:01 The disciples fill the streets twice daily when they
come out of the temple area, the so-called ashram.

49 00:09:35:04 00:09:42:03 Men disciples have to be clothed in white and the
women must cover their shoulders and legs.

50 00:09:53:05 00:09:59:21 Everything here in Puttaparthi is about Sai Baba and
his various messages of love, peace and understanding.

51 00:09:59:24 00:10:06:11 The tourist industry flourishes in the streets. There
are shops filled with masses of souvenirs.

52 00:10:06:14 00:10:11:01 One can, for example, buy a cd on which the guru
himself sings.

53 00:10:17:00 00:10:22:01 The dots here mark Sai Baba organisation centres, found
around most of the world.

54 00:10:22:04 00:10:27:02 It is thought that there are 30 millions followers.
(Translator - not more than ca. 3 million,
most probably)

107 00:15:42:07
00:15:47:08 One of the few Indians who speaks out critically in
public is this man.

108 00:15:47:11
00:15:53:16 He is an author and the chairman for
a movement of critics of Sai Baba. Sanal Edamaruku, General secretary in
India’s Rationalist Association,

(SANAL EDAMARUKU) "SB is a charlatan,
a cheat, a scoundrel, preying on the gullibility of the common man. And
he is an exploiter class one. From the prime ministers to the presidents
to chief justices in our Supreme Court, we have a lot of devotees of SB
and his influence is very powerful.

109 00:16:13:07
00:16:16:17 (COMMENTATOR)
“He also has influence over the media.

110 00:16:16:20
00:16:22:16 This clip was removed from a
State TV programme because it caused doubts about the miracles."

111 00:16:22:19
00:16:25:07 One sees Sai Baba get the chain in
his hand

112 00:16:25:10
00:16:29:23 Which he subsequently pretends to
materialise.

113 00:16:31:11
00:16:36:18 Danish Radio Documentaries has gone
through a number of pieces of footage with a conjurer.

114 00:16:36:21
00:16:41:15 To a professional it is obvious that
Sai Baba uses sleight of hand, not miracles.

115 (NILS
KRØJGAARD, CONJURER) Here we see Sai Baba come over to one of his
assistants and receive the gift he will hand over.

116 00:16:48:17
00:16:52:13 He tries to find the chain,
hidden by his right hand,with his left hand.

117 00:16:52:16
00:16:57:01 As soon as he gets hold of
it – he drops it across to the right hand

118 - 00:16:57:04
00:17:00:21 and materialises – or as it
really is - conjures up the chain.

119 00:17:03:14
00:17:08:18 (COMMENTATOR) Another of Sai Baba’s miracles is when he
produces holy ash.

120 00:17:08:21
00:17:12:22 Note Goldie Hawn in the background.

121 00:17:18:20
00:17:21:21 (NILS KRØJGAARD) Before me I
have a heap of ash.

133 00:18:46:11
00:18:52:17 All they concentrate on is getting a glimpse of Sai
Baba, their God.

134 00:18:52:20
00:18:58:10 As a conjurer, one works to distract the watchers’ - the
public’s -attention.

135 00:18:58:13
00:19:01:17 Sai Baba does not need that
at all.”

136 00:19:12:16
00:19:15:24 The Danish group is on an
excursion.

137 00:19:54:06
00:20:01:17 The following morning they
shall see miracles. The group has been told that Sai Baba never sleeps
and is never ill.
(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL) When Baba walks in sand or gravel, in the rain
for example, his feet are never dirtied. Never. You never see a
videofilm where he is walking in the rain and his feet are dirty.” "We have here an impression of Baba’s feet, and
amrit is seeping from them."

138 00:20:22:00
00:20:28:18 Amrit is the nectar of the gods. Participants are told
that this is a Miracle and that the amrit can heal.

(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL) "When you write a letter to
Baba, you should always end it with ‘Always at your lotus feet’."

139 00:20:45:04
00:20:48:21 The lotus feet are at the Thief’s Temple.

140 00:20:51:00
00:20:55:03 It is called the thief’s temple,
because it was constructed by this man

141 :20:55:06
00:21:00:03 - who was a thief, until he met Sai Baba, who asked him
to build a temple.

142 00:21:02:09
00:21:07:07 They are told that this picture of Sai Baba gets
miraculously covered in holy ash every day.

143 00:21:07:10
00:21:13:15 and that the ash falls down when one sings praise to
Baba, as a sign of his divine presence .

144 00:21:58:17
00:22:05:01 The travel party later receive ash to take home.

145 00:22:07:13
00:22:15:07 The temple owner takes some amulets and
puts them on the followers’ palms. Again the fluid is the so-called
amrit.

146 00:22:25:23
00:22:31:23 Some of the followers are
convinced that the amrit continues to flow from Sai Baba’s amuletter by
some miraculous and inexplicable means.

148 00:22:35:24
00:22:40:24 As with the ash, the travel party takes liquid amrit
home in bottles they brought along.

149 00:22:41:02
00:22:46:01 They are told that it can
heal illnesses.

(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL) "He has removed
it. He has removed the amulet, but it keeps coming."

150 00:22:52:23
00:22:56:22 (JOURNALIST)
You do not know from where it comes? Is it coming from
your own hand, then?

(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL) Don’t ask me.”

151 00:23:00:10 00:23:06:04
(GUNNAR MORITSEN) I had that amulet there put in my
hand. Then nectar suddenly began to flow out of it -

152 00:23:06:07
00:23:09:17 - as if it came directly from the amulet.

153 00:23:11:15
00:23:17:18 I don’t know how it happens. It just seems completely
strange. A peculiar sense that it simply happens.

154 00:23:17:21
00:23:22:00 It’s something that simply cannot be understood at all,
and I certainly don`t.

155 00:23:22:03
00:23:25:18 So it is something of a miracle.

156 00:23:25:21
00:23:32:12 (NILS KRØJGAARD)
I have also manufactured my own amrit and likewise have also made some
small amulets.

157 00:23:32:15
00:23:36:16 They are made from a spoon.
It is oval and has a slight concavity.

158 00:23:36:19
00:23:39:22 That is to say, the amrit can collect in
the concavity here.

159 00:23:40:00
00:23:45:19 We shall observe once more how the
thief gives the amulets to the followers.

160 00:23:45:22
00:23:50:17 He uses a spoon, which he dips in a
jar full of sugar water as we see here.

161 00:23:50:20
00:23:54:07 Everyone who has tried to put sirup
on a pancake knows -

162 00:23:54:10
00:23:59:07 how long it takes for the sirup to
run from the spoon.

163 00:23:59:10
00:24:02:10 It can keep on sticking there for a
relatively long time.

164 00:24:02:13
00:24:06:05 We put it down into the saucer with
amrit.

165 00:24:06:08
00:24:10:00 Now I put the amulet in place.
Here it is.

166 00:24:10:03
00:24:15:05 And see, when the hand is level,
then nothing happens.

167 00:24:15:08
00:24:22:21 But as soon as one begins to slope
the hand, the amrit begins to run, as slowly as this from the hand.

168 00:24:22:24
00:24:27:06 It is remarkable for how long the
amrit continues to run.

169 00:24:28:21
00:24:33:11 Because the travel group were told that
both the amrit and the ash have healing properties,

170 00:24:33:14
00:24:37:22
We had both things
analysed by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration

171 00:24:38:00
00:24:43:09 The amrit consisted in water and
sugar. The ash was mostly chalk.

172 00:24:43:12
00:24:46:13 (ERIK DAHM, HEAD OF THE LABORATORY) We do not know with
complete certainty whether it is ash. It could be
ash.

173 00:24:46:16
00:24:52:07 We have investigated the powder for mineral
content.

174 00:24:52:10
00:24:56:16 It contains a number of minerals, primarily calcium,
ordinary chalk.

175 00:24:56:19
00:25:01:24 Apart from that, our investigations have been unable to
show any extraordinary thing that has special healing properties.

177 00:25:10:18
00:25:15:00 For example, he often borrows a silver ring from a
disciple.

178 00:25:15:03
00:25:21:07 He takes the silver ring and quietly and gently rubs it,
and suddenly it is transformed into a gold ring.

179 00:25:21:10
00:25:27:16 This can obviously not be done without both a silver
ring and a gold ring. We shall now see this.

180 00:25:29:09
00:25:35:03 Here we see Sai Baba borrow a silver ring from one of
his disciples

181 00:25:35:06
00:25:40:00 So that all who are present in the
room here can be sure it is a silver ring -

182 00:25:40:03
00:25:42:22 - to make the miracle as great as possible -

183 00:25:43:00
00:25:48:01 Baba now shows the silver ring to his disciples sitting
in front of him, so as really to see -

184 00:25:48:04
00:25:51:15 that the ring is made of silver.

185 00:25:51:18
00:25:57:08 In a moment we will see Sai Baba conjuring the ring into
a gold one.

186 00:25:57:11
00:26:02:08 Note that, in a moment, his right hand is tightly
closed.

187 00:26:02:11
00:26:08:11 One can clearly see that he is hiding a ring in his
right hand.

188 00:26:08:14
00:26:14:05 He is just going to be kissed a last time.
(TRANSLATOR - This is a comment on a lady who
kisses SB’s hand) Then he gets the ring...

189 00:26:14:08
00:26:18:17 There is the hand which is tightly
closed. And then he gets the ring. He gets it here.

190 00:26:18:20
00:26:23:18 Note too that the silver ring comes down behind the
cushion in the chair.

191 00:26:23:21 00:26:28:24 He blows on the ring and it turns into gold.

192 00:26:29:02
00:26:31:16 As one can see, people believe that it is a miracle.

193 00:26:31:19
00:26:35:18 But it is simple conjuring. Not only that, but he
fumbles and so

194 00:26:35:21
00:26:42:19 has materialised or conjured forth a
gold ring that that doesn’t fit at all and is a number too small.
(LIDVIN VIRKESDAL) "It was also in the newspapers
here at home. Everyone saw it. And here is the picture of it. That is
Baba in the clouds."

195 00:26:56:08
00:27:03:20 The picture is regarded by followers as proof that Sai
Baba saved the plane. What do two professional photographers say?

196 00:27:03:23
00:27:08:22 (HEINE PEDERSEN - PHOTOGRAPHER)None of this has any
value as documentation.

197 00:27:09:00
00:27:12:11 It is an unclear picture of a man
with some clouds in the background..

198 00:27:12:14
00:27:18:24 (HENRIK SAXGREN - PHOTOGRAPHER)
Photography... everyone constructs each their own story from a
photograph.

199 00:27:19:02
00:27:23:10 It is a bit hard to see how it is produced.

200 00:27:23:13
00:27:28:14 but I see that there are two possibilities. The pictures
are either superimposed on one another -

201 00:27:28:17
00:27:32:22 - one picture of a man and one
picture of some clouds – as we have all done (double exposure) to take
one picture on top of another,

202 00:27:33:00
00:27:37:23 or else they are most likely produced in a computer,
where one... and it is highly likely that...

203
This can be done very easily in any home computer.

204 00:27:42:14
00:27:45:15 ... put the pictures
together, fake them.

205 00:28:09:06
00:28:15:24 But there are much more serious allegations against Sai
Baba, accusations of sexual molestation.

206 00:28:16:02
00:28:21:13 The guru is known for daily
selecting disciples to take to a so-called interview.

207 00:28:21:16
00:28:24:08 The interviews take place
alone in a room with Sai Baba -

208 00:28:24:11
00:28:30:02 - and are regarded as
something of the highest one can achieve.

209 00:28:30:05
00:28:35:00 The accusers say that Sai
Baba has molested his disciples sexually during these interviews.

210 00:28:35:03
00:28:39:18 It involves young men and
boys, including minors.

211 00:28:39:21
00:28:43:24 Sai Baba and his organisation have so far rejected all
allegations.

212 00 28:44:02
00:28:49:06 They characterize the
allegations as an evil campaign based on second-hand rumours.

213 00:28:49:09
00:28:55:07 Danish
Radio has spoken to a number of ex-disciples who have been molested.

("SAM")
One time he had his robe almost completely off and he tried to have anal
sex with me, because he came from behind me and started climbing up on
top of me, you know, and being that I’m so much taller than him, in
order to keep prevent it from happening, I just stood straight up and
didn’t allow him to do anything, you know, and I kind of kept pushing
him away and keep him there until ??... I know, I want to talk to you, I
want to be with you and I love you. He said, "You
don’t love me? You don’t love me?" And I would
say, "No, I love you, but I just don’t want to
have sexual relations with you."

214 00:29:32:00
00:29:36:07 The boy and his family were
showered with jewels and watches.

215 00:29:36:10
00:29:41:05 The family wishes to remain
anonymous because they fear the reactions of Sai Baba`s followers.

216 00:29:41:08
00:29:46:21 Today they live in the US
Midwest. The father was one of the leaders in the American Sai movement
-

217 00:29:46:24
00:29:53:22 But he broke with the organisation when he
discovered the molesting. This is the first time they give their
accounts on TV.

("SAM"s father)
We were shocked when we heard it and the both of us just embraced our
son at that time and we said, "That’s it. It’s
over. It’s finished." And the thing that was most
impactful there, was that when we said to him, "Why
didn’t you tell us?", and he said, "The
greatest fear that I had was that my family would choose SB and I would
lose my family." And that he had lived with that
fear. And he said, "and that I would be
responsible for possibly bringing down an organisation as big as this.”

(”SAM”) The first time I had a personal experience with SB
was when I was 16 years old. I went to India alone with some friends in
a USA group. I think I was the only person in that group that he gave a
personal interview to. I went in there, and he motioned for me to lower
my pants. And I did. I was very nervous at the time, yeah. And he waved
his hand and turned it over and showed me some oil. And he started to
rub it on my testicles and started kissing me. And as he was kissing me,
he started kissing me deeply, you know. And I started tensing up and,
you know, not understanding what was happening. But it seemed to me as
if SB was trying to make my penis erect. He had told me not to tell
anybody about what he had done, that people wouldn’t understand it.

218 00:31:46:24 oo:31:49:21
(COMMENTATOR) the molestations went on for several
years.

(”SAM”) The second time
that I went to see SB was in 1997. I went with my whole family and a
group of people. I believe we had about 10 people in our group. I don’t
remember exactly what happened that first day, but I know that there was
physical contact in the personal interview room. I ended up getting
about 20 to 21 personal interviews within a month and a half. Then he at
one time gave me a watch and I wore it for about a week. And after about
the first week of wearing it, the gold started to fade off of the inside
and around the sides and I felt it to be kind of strange, because I felt
it was like a token of love or a spiritual gift or some sort of a …
something special, and it was just already … it was really cheap, I
could tell. The second hand was sometimes moving in different
directions, and the gold left and so I asked him in an interview, you
know, why it was changing colours and he almost got upset with me for
asking a question like that, you know. And he told me then, “I’m going
to give you a solid gold watch.” And so he made another watch for me. It
was solid gold. At the time it looked very gold on the front and the
back. And about a week later it was all faded off. It didn’t work very
well for very long. But every time we would go back into the personal
room, his wants got to be very intimate. And he was constantly having me
take out my penis and he would hold it,
sometimes put it in his mouth and look at me, and then ask me to do the
same thing or push my head down and lift his robe up. And I was gagging
and almost about to vomit. And, you know, that was probably the most
mentally break down type of thing I’ve ever done in my life, because if
I didn’t feel like at that time, like my life or my family’s happiness
or … was depending on it, I wouldn’t have done it. But my mentality at
that time … I felt like it was a life or almost death situation. You
know, this was God in human form, but that was my mental program – this
is God in human form. How could I deny him what he was trying to make me
do? There must be some deeper reason or deeper meaning that what I see.”

219 00:34:33:13
00:34:37:18Sai Baba threatened the boy by saying that his family
would not get any more interviews -

220 00:34:37:21
00:34:41:10 If he revealed anything to his
parents.

(SAM) But there were several occasions that really
made it snap in my mind that it was no longer even possibly a spiritual
experience. I was constantly feeling the pressures of the thousands and
thousands of people outside the room that all wanted to be in the
position that I was in, and who every day almost treated me with anger
or resent, you know, because I got so much attention from SB. My
feeling, however, was, if you guys only knew what was actually going on
back there, you wouldn’t even want to be in my shoes, because it’s not
very funny. (to next shot)

221 00:35:20:12
00:35:24:04 This family was far from being the only one who can tell
of sexual abuse.

222 00:35:24:07
00:35:29:04 The police in USA, Germany and France have received
formal charges from ex-disciples.

223 00:35:29:07 00:35:33:12 Twenty
reports were deposited with the Indian authorities in March 2001.

224 00:35:33:15
00:35:38:04The court in India has still not decided how it will
deal with the formal charges.

225 00:35:38:07
00:35:45:06 One of the accusers lives in Boston. His mother is a
fervent follower of Baba, and he was too for six years.
(JED GEYERHAHN) In 1989 when I was 15 years old I went to India for
three weeks. And on that trip I had four interviews. And in the third
interview he actually asked me to untie my pants. And he forcibly pulled
my pants down and with his bare hand grabbed my groin and rubbed some
oil on the side of my scrotum. And I went again on the following year,
and on that trip when I was 16 years old, SB called me again for a
private interview. At that point I was even actually more uncomfortable
because it seemed like this had already taken place, there is no reason
why it needed to take place again. But he asked me to take my pants
down. I did and he went on and produced an oily substance and rubbed it
on the side of my scrotum.

226 00:36:34:10
00:36:38:15 According to Jed Geyerhahn, he is far from being
the only one.

(JED
GEYERHAHN) I have talked with students at SB’s school and they
have had sexual relationships with SB. And it’s really common knowledge
that several students stay with SB all night on an ongoing basis. And of
course nobody talks about what takes place with these students with SB,
but from the students I’ve talked to (it’s) clear that there are sexual
relationships taking place. And in fact one student I talked to directly
was a person that was staying with SB. And from the conversation it was
clear that it was very difficult for him to come forward with this
information, because he’d be rejected by his family and by his culture
and by his people, unlike American students who
have the support of their culture and society and family. They come
forward and talk about the fact that they have been mistreated by
SB.

(”SAM”) What really helped me was when I had some conversations
with some other people who had had similar experienes. Because I felt,
that if they had had experiences as intense, or close to as intense as
mine, I could talk to them about it more openly than I could talk to my
dad. So we had talked about it, and all the people that I had talked
about it were equally confused about it as I was. However, also equally
brainwashed and allowing it to continue to take place. So I would say
that finally I decided that I was not going to put myself into that
position again, because life without SB was going to be a better life.”

227 00:38:26:03
00:38:29:06When his son at last told him what
was going on -

228 00:38:29:09
00:38:34:18 - the father broke all connection with Sai Baba and
resigned as leader of a part of the movement in America.

(SAM’S FATHER) I could see the manipulation that had been done.
The threats, the pressure, the intense responsibility to bring this boy
along, to keep him around for seven years as Baba’s plaything.

229 00:38:53:16
00:38:58:13 The father says that he complained to the highest leader
in the organisation in the USA.

(SAM’S FATHER) We told him every single detail. And honestly, I
would say that he was genuinely shaken. He made comments like,
"Faith has to be restored. Words will not be enough. I
hate to think that 25 years of my life had been for nothing, had been a
waste. We MUST talk to Baba about this." And he
asked us, "Please, please, do not tell anyone
about this until we’ve had a chance to talk to Baba."
He said, "I will go, I will be there for
his birthday."
He was called in and he specifically adressed the situation with our
family. Baba was very clear exactly which family it was. He said,
"Baba, I need to talk to you about inappropriate action
that this family says you’ve had with their son."
Baba’s response was: "Swami is pure."
The next day Baba gave his big birthday discourse, and in that discourse
he praised this individual, that man who is the head of the
organisation, more than he had ever praised anyone else before, saying
what an incredible devotee he was, and all that he had done. And a
friend of mine who had videotaped it and had it, was approached
afterwards by this man. He said, "Oh, did you get
that on tape?" He said, "It
was the peak of my life." So when he returned and
he called me, he said, "I’ve done what I said I
would do. I’ve kept my word. I spoke to Baba. Baba’s response is:
'Swami is pure,' and he said that
you would return." And he said, "My
heart and my mind are on Swami. You have to do whatever you have to do."
And I just ... I felt that he just couldn’t face it.

230 00:41:03:04
00:41:06:24Conny Larsson was a faithful
disciple of Sai Baba for 21 years.

231 00:41:07:02
00:41:10:13 For many years, Conny Larsson has run a home for drug
users in Sweden.

232 00:41:10:16
00:41:15:13 And he took patients along with him to India many times
so that they might be cured by Sai Baba.

233 00:41:15:16 00:41:22:12 At present, Conny Larsson works in southern Poland
teaching personelwithin the social
care sector and in prisons.

234 00:41:22:15
00:41:29:17 Previously, he was one of the two top
leaders of the Swedish Sai Baba Organisation.

(CONNY LARSSON) It was like this. From when I was four years
old until I was eight, I was misused by a pedophile, my dad's
best friend and boss. And he raped me every Friday evening, when the pay
came. And they’d have
drinks and when my dad dropped off, he violated me orally in our toilet.
And after that I came to Sai Baba, who I believed to be my God and my
saviour, and then I was invited in to the inner interview room. And that
was when he pulled my pants down and took out my penis and began to rub
it in with oil then began to masturbate me, onani - that is. And after
that he would of course want to suck me too. And I stood there quite
speechless, and couldn’t quite figure out what was really happening
then. What he wanted then was that I should suck him, so he pulled up
his smock like this and then he pulled out his small penis – about so
large – and thought that I would suck him, but I couldn’t, because I
came to think of the violation episode when I was a child, so it was not
on. I had a nauseous feeling and, in that way, got Sai Baba to realise
that I just couldn’t. And then he dropped it. But he still really wanted
to masturbate me.

236 00:42:56:19
00:43:02:19 He broke away – he was a
mature adult at the time - only when he experienced the treatment given
by Sai Baba to a Swedish family.

(CONNY LARSSON) It was when we went in June - June, 16 1999
– a group from Gothenburg went down to Sai Baba, and then there was a
boy who is listed on this passenger list. And so this boy was lured into
the inner interview room while his mother sat outside. And then I heard
what occurred, of a sexual nature, in there, because I have myself been
behind this 'curtain of shame'
as I call it today. And it was so audible that I got embarrassed. And
when Baba had gone and the cushion he has a back support that
had fallen forward, I took care to replace that cushion - for I was
sitting just beside it - like this. And when I was about to put the
cushion back, to my great surprise I saw that, in the rear end of the
chair and furthest within the seat, lies gold
watches, gold necklaces, gold rings, and other bits and pieces, which he
later - when the boy had come out – he comes out satisfied and happy,
and smacks his lips. And then he sits down and has the impudence
directly to confront the mother, who is looking at her boy and wondering
what has happened to him, and asks her ”What do you want?” Then he has
the nerve to cheat and do a sleight-of-and materialisation, which I saw
with my own eyes when he took it with his hand behind his back. And not
only rape or seduce the boy in there, but fool the mother and all of us
outside that he could manifest things, when everything had been lying
behind his cushion. And then, so to speak, then the penny really dropped
for me. Just think, my mind said, and then I understood that I have been
deceived spiritually and physically, the whole world is fooled
spiritually and
physically.

237 00:45:08:06
00:45:12:19What happened to you after you
stood forth in opposition to Sai Baba?

(CONNY LARSSON) I was threatened that I would be shot
when I should go to Poland. And now one has tried a new tactic, from the
Sai movement, and that is to send out messages about me saying I am a
convicted pedophile. They have, so to speak, turned around the entire
problematic and say that what Sai Baba is guilty of - pedophilia – is
what I am guilty of. I and the other guys who have dared to speak out –
it is us who are pedophiles. And they have send this announcement out
across the globe. And Sai followers believe it.

238 00:45:47:16
00:45:52:02 When the matter came out, many Swedish followers left the
movement.

239 00:45:52:05
00:45:55:19 The Danish leaders, however, reject all accusations.

240 00:45:55:22
00:46:01:11 The leader of the Sai Baba organisation in
Denmark is Thorbjø rn Meyer. He is a lecturer in ethics at the Business
High School in Copenhagen.

241 00:46:01:14
00:46:04:23 He is also the boss for Sai Baba in Europe.

(CONNY LARSSON) - speaking about T. Meyer] He is the strongest,
most powerful person in the whole of Europe, being the leader in
Europe. He knows about everything.

242 00:46:19:13
00:46:23:17 But Thorbjørn Meyer
would not participate in this programme.

243 00:46:23:20
00:46:31:00 Thorbjørn Meyer, who is here kneeling for
Sai Baba, was invited to see DR’s documentation, but he refused.

244 00:46:33:22 00:46:40:06 Instead, he sent a letter to DR and called the
allegations undocumented and
untrue.

245 00:46:43:02 00:46:46
22We also asked the travel leader, Lidvin
Virkesdal, to comment on the accusations,

246 00:46:47:00
00:46:51:19 but neither did he wish to
contribute to our broadcast on this matter.

247 We were
instead referred to Peter Pruzan, a professor at Copenhagen’sBusiness High School.

248 00:46:56:06
00:47:00:02 He has been a faithful Sai
Baba follower for many years.

249 00:47:00:05
00:47:08:04 What is truth? That these
people perhaps have had some experiences which they have experienced in
their brains, in their minds.

293 00:51:02:16
00:51:08:00 I have just partaken in a large international congress
about the sexual exploitation of children.

294 00:51:08:03
00:51:12:14 And if we really mean anything by the final document we
arrived at -

295 00:51:12:17
00:51:17:11 - that we will combat sexual exploitation of children in
all ways -

296 00:51:17:14
00:51:23:15 then we must stop children being destroyed and abused

297 00:51:23:18
00:51:27:01 - and that interferences of this
kind occur.

298 00:51:28:13
00:51:35:14 In India, the critics have major difficulty in getting
the authorities to begin to investigate against Sai Baba.

(SANAL EDAMARUKU) The media is scared, basically. For
example when the big scandal about SB’s sexual abuse on people arose.
And look at the Indian media. There was only one newspaper from New
Delhi which produced the story. People are so afraid, so scared because
he is politically powerful and his influence is so real and he can
damage if he is criticised. Anybody (who) criticises is eliminated, or
attacked or cornered or isolated. Having a press conference on SB’s 70th
birthday, the very next day I found that my car parts were removed in
the morning so that I could simply have an
accident. It could look like a coincidence. Such things happen several
times, but we are not afraid. We are not going to be cowed down by that
thing. We’re waiting for that time that people come out openly and
expose this cheat, the best cheat that times have ever produced.

299 00:52:31:13
00:52:35:03 The security in Puttaparthi
around Sai Baba is tight.

300 00:52:35:06
00:52:39:08 In 1993, four young men were killed in his apartment.
(Translator – In fact, six young men were killed in all in his
apartment, two attendants were first knifed by the intruders)

301 00:52:39:11
00:52:45:10 Armed with knives, they forced their way into the ashram
but were shot by the police. A policeman who was working at the
police station in Puttaparthi at that time told me that the boys
had come there and said to Sai Baba, ”Now there will be a bit of a stop
to these sexual assualts on small boys.” Sai Baba them locked them in -
he was angry – locked them in, went and pressed the alarm button for the
police. The police came and they received the go-ahead from Sai Baba to
take over the matter, and they could hear the boys up in Sai Baba’s
bedroom and living room for four hours. And later the police thought it
so dangerous to let them out to the people who were waiting outside that
they quite simply executed them after four hour’s of interrogation.

302 00:53:27:19
00:53:32:04 (COMMENTATOR) This picture of one of the bodies is from
the news magazine 'India Today'

304 00:53:35:23
00:53:42:15 Neither the authorities nor Sai Baba have make known
exactly what had happened in the ashram.

305 00:53:42:18
00:53:48:18 DR Documentaries would have liked to
have interviewed Sai Baba himself, but were not allowed access to the
guru.

306 00:53:48:21
00:53:52:16 Only once has he publicly commented on the accusations
of sexual abuse.

307 00:53:52:19
00:53:58:24 This occurred last year. He accused his opponents of
being paid to slander him .

(SAM) Sometimes I feel so stupid because it
took me so long to finally come to my senses. But
I guess the mind - the brain – is like a powerful tool. If you think one
thing it’s difficult to change the mind and finally wake up and realise
what’s happening.

(CONNY LARSSON) The group pressure in Puttaparti, where I
most often went during my 32 visits, was enormous, and everything was so
organised every minute, from three in the morning to nine at night, so
one hardly had any chance to get away. Everything was so strongly
structured. It was sort of just to swallow it all, and so we were
deceived. We were shown Sai Baba's gold and tinsel and everything he had
done, and they spoke about the dead who had arisen, and the lame who had
walked. It was Jesus for sure! And then they said that he was Jesus’
Father, who had sent Jesus here. And when one saw him, one believed that
it was like that. The pressure was so great. Imagine yourself sitting
with 10,000 or 100,000 or 500,000 people – there were occasionally – and
everyone is only singing his praise. It can’t be done, there is no
person who can withstand that unless one has gone there purposely due to
suspicion. But I did not do that. I came there because I needed a
father, and Sai Baba fulfilled all the criteria.